Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Saturday panned a reported immigration reform proposal from President Obama, saying it would be dead on arrival in Congress.

If actually proposed, the Presidents bill would be dead on arrival in Congress, leaving us with unsecured borders and a broken legal immigration system for years to come, said Rubio in a statement.

His response followed a report in USA Today on Saturday which said the Obama administration has prepared a draft plan that includes a provision to allow illegal immigrants to obtain green cards within eight years.

The proposal would create a Lawful Prospective Immigrant visa to allow holders to work and travel after undergoing a criminal background check and paying fees. After eight years under the visa, an immigrant could apply for legal permanent residency as a green card holder.

The draft would also increase funds for Border Patrol, add federal immigration judges and expand the use of E-Verify.

The White House would not confirm the details of the proposal, but CNN reported that a White House spokesman said the administration intended for Congress to take the lead on immigration.

The president has made clear the principles upon which he believes any common-sense immigration reform effort should be based," White House spokesman Clark Stevens said, according to CNN. "We continue to work in support of a bipartisan effort, and while the president has made clear he will move forward if Congress fails to act, progress continues to be made and the administration has not prepared a final bill to submit.

In his statement, Rubio sharply criticized the White House for not doing more to seek GOP input ahead of circulating its proposal, calling the draft half-baked and seriously flawed.

Its a mistake for the White House to draft immigration legislation without seeking input from Republican members of Congress. President Obamas leaked immigration proposal is disappointing to those of us working on a serious solution, said Rubio. The Presidents bill repeats the failures of past legislation.

Rubio has signed on to the Senates bipartisan Gang of Eight immigration framework, released last month, which also offers a pathway to citizenship, heightened border security and measures to increase high-skilled immigration and employee verification.

Efforts to place illegal immigrants on a pathway to citizenship, though, face strong opposition among House Republicans who see such measures as amnesty. Rubio, has taken a primary role in rallying conservative support for the Senate immigration blueprint.

Any immigration legislation MUST contain language that limits public services and benefits (inluding, but not limited to food stamps, welfare, tuition, child care, health care, housing subsidies, etc.) to legal citizens (i.e., not only green card holders can avail themselves of those serveices, especially since the green card program was intended for those foreigners who would contribute to American society and not be a burden or dependent upon American society.

3
posted on 02/17/2013 5:32:57 AM PST
by ought-six
( Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule.)

Rubio is using the ole ‘secure the border’ canard that McCain and other used to push previous amnesty bills.

Either Rubio is naive or he is in on the shellgame. His insistence on ‘securing the border’ could be done by enforcing EXISTING laws. We don’t need more ‘secure the border’ laws that future Administrations and Congresses will continue to ignore, after they get another bunch of costly benefit add-ons attached to the new amnesty bill.

Just days ago, HSD Sec Napolitano said that the border was basically secure now.

Rubio is NOT the problem! If you remember, he was the Tea Party candidate that the Republicans opposed against now Democrat Charlie Crist. I wish people here would be more thoughtful about the issues and less volatile in their “everybody who doesn’t say the right thing is a RINO” crap...

Interesting. So it looks like Rubio is sticking to his guns, and with him goes ANY chance of Amnesty.

For the first time, Obama’s met his match...let’s see how that plays out. I suspect that he will get very, very, angry.

Also, please don’t label me as an Amnesty supporter. I have hundreds of posts against Amnesty - but my point here is about Obama actually meeting some Republican resistance for the first time in his presidency.

Rubio is a pro-amnesty fraud who is willing to sell out US citizens for the mythical Latino vote. He...like most...is only concerned with getting re-elected....not protecting the Constitution.

Rubio quickly backed the most liberal GOP candidate in the primary. Now either he supported Romney’s record on socialized healthcare, gun control, abortion, etc...or he just wanted political favors if Romney was elected.

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